Brockton student hit by van is a traffic safety advocate

Redondo Constant, a Brockton High School sophomore critically injured in a pedestrian accident on Belmont Street this week, is a student advocate for public safety, the principal said Wednesday.

Maria Papadopoulos

A Brockton High School sophomore critically injured in a pedestrian accident on Belmont Street this week is a student advocate for public safety, the principal said Wednesday.

Redondo Constant, 16, was among student representatives who worked on a public safety program funded through a $300,000 federal grant, Susan Szachowicz said.

Constant also took part in an earlier presentation of the Readiness and Emergency Management for School program, with the grant’s administrator, that city parents attended, she said.

“Redondo is just one of those kids that everybody knows,” Szachowicz said. “He’s just the happiest kid. He just is always everywhere and smiling.”

Constant remained in critical condition at a Boston hospital Wednesday night as investigators continue to probe the accident. Police said the boy, who was in a crosswalk when a van struck him, walked into traffic.

Reached by telephone on Wednesday, Voltaire Constant, the boy’s father, said his son underwent emergency surgery for a bleeding liver after the accident.

“We’re watching, we’re continuing to pray to God, see what God can do to make him better,” Constant, 47, said from his son’s hospital bedside.

A crossing guard has since been placed at the Belmont Street intersection after a white van struck Constant around 6:49 a.m. Tuesday as the boy tried to cross the four lanes of Belmont Street. Police and fire said the impact knocked him 30 feet.

The driver of the van, Jose Tacure of 140 Walnut St., Brockton, was cited on a charge of driving without a license and could face more charges, Lt. Paul Bonanca said.

The accident sparked out rage among School Committee members, who say they have repeatedly asked the district and Superintendent Matthew Malone to have a school police officer direct traffic at the busy entrance on Belmont Street, but their requests have been ignored.

In September 2010 a school police officer was removed from overseeing traffic at the Belmont Street entrance of the high school, School Committee member Bill Carpenter said.

That same month, the school district received a $300,000 federal grant for public safety that Constant, the student, worked on.

Lt. Donald Mills, who began overseeing the seven police officers assigned to patrol Brockton schools in September 2010, stopped placing an officer at the Belmont Street intersection at that time, Carpenter said.

“We repeatedly requested that the school police reinstate that officer at that intersection in the morning. They steadfastly refused to,” Carpenter said.

Mills said Wednesday that School Committee requests “have not been ignored.”

He said that before he began overseeing the school police, a school police officer was placed at the intersection “intermittently, not every day” to review traffic flow.

“It was never an intention to keep a guy at that intersection,” Mills said.

Generally the city “wouldn’t have an officer interfere with a functioning (traffic) light,” Mills said.

Mills said an officer is at the intersection at least two or three days each week. He plans to conduct a study of the intersection with the city’s Traffic Commission “to see if there will be any changes to make.”

A crossing guard is now stationed on the side of Belmont Street housing McDonald’s, a popular student hangout, in the morning and afternoon, Malone said in an email to The Enterprise on Wednesday.

The guard will help students cross only when traffic lights permit pedestrians to cross, and only in the direction of the school, he said. The guard will not allow students to cross against traffic or cross students who wish to leave the school building, he said.

No student is allowed to leave the campus after a school bus drops them off, Malone said.

School member Patricia Joyce said the district has tried to discourage students from leaving campus to cross Belmont Street.

In the fall, the district moved a bus drop off location from the gymnasium area, which is near Belmont Street, to the Asiaf Skating Rink, which is farther away from Belmont Street.

“We know that there is a population of students that are not following those rules,” Joyce said. “They are leaving the school campus and they are going across the street. That’s a problem.”

Malone and Police Chief Emanuel Gomes said they would review safety procedures for students in the wake of the accident.

Meanwhile, Voltaire Constant predicted it will take months for his only son to recover.

“He’s making progress, little by little, step by step,” he said. “I don’t have the words to explain (how it was) when I first came to see him (in the hospital).”

Maria Papadopoulos may be reached at mpapadopoulos@enterprisenews.com.

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